From Enslavement to Obliteration
From Enslavement to Obliteration is the second studio album by Napalm Death, released on 16 September 1988. It is the final studio album with vocalist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Bill Steer, and the first to feature bassist Shane Embury, the band's longest-tenured member. A remastered version was released on 2 April 2012. This album put Earache Records on the mainstream horizon when the album debuted at #1 on the UK Indie Charts. This led Earache to be featured on the NME front cover and led to radio sessions with noted BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Background The album's lyrical themes cover a variety of social and political topics, including misogyny/sexism ("It's a M.A.N.S World" and "Inconceivable?"), animal rights ("Display to Me..."), racism ("Unchallenged Hate" and "From Enslavement to Obliteration"), materialism ("Private Death"), and anti-capitalism ("Make Way!"). The album calls for social change, as seen in the song "Uncertainty Blurs the Vision," quoting Rudimentary Peni at the song's conclusion. Shane Embury retrospectively commented on the band's progression up until From Enslaved... in Kerrang! magazine: It was a good experience but it was a brief one. Back in those days albums were recorded very quickly – we recorded the album in about six days and I think it cost about £800. In the early days in the very beginning before I joined, it was more of a crust punk band really but it was a natural progression, I think, to get faster and faster. Scum created a buzz and by the time we did FETO, we just wanted to push it as fast as we could and as far as possible. We weren't really consciously trying to break any rules but we weren't paying any attention to them either. If we wanted to do a song that was going to be 20 seconds long then we'd do it – we didn't think there was any reason not to. The vocals for us went hand-in-hand with the distorted bass guitar, distorted guitars and hyper-fast drumming". Track listing #Evolved as One - 3:14 #It's a M.A.N.S. World - 0:54 #Lucid Fairytale - 1:02 #Private Death - 0:36 #Impressions - 0:35 #Unchallenged Hate - 2:08 #Uncertainty Blurs the Vision - 0:41 #Cock-Rock Alienation - 1:20 #Retreat to Nowhere - 0:31 #Think for a Minute - 1:43 #Display to Me... - 2:44 #From Enslavement to Obliteration - 1:35 #Blind to the Truth - 0:22 #Social Sterility - 1:04 #Emotional Suffocation - 1:06 #Practice What You Preach - 1:24 #Inconceivable? - 1:07 #Worlds Apart - 1:25 #Obstinate Direction - 1:02 #Mentally Murdered - 2:14 #Sometimes - 1:06 #Make Way! - 1:37 Limited Edition bonus disc This bonus disc are taken from The Curse EP which was released in 1988. #The Curse - 3:17 #Musclehead - 0:50 #Your Achievement? - 0:06 #Dead - 0:05 #Morbid Deceiver - 0:45 Credits Napalm Death *Lee Dorrian - Vocals *Bill Steer - Guitars *Shane Embury - Bass *Mick Harris - Drums Production *Dig - Producer *Steve Bird - Engineering *Mike Marsh - Mastering *Mark Sikora - Artwork Trivia *Some LPs had a sticker with the following line printed on it: "We wanted to be the biggest rock band in the world and you don't do that sounding like Napalm Death" Joe Elliot (Def Leppard) *Grindcore band Sore Throat included a track called "From Off License to Obliteration" on their 101-track 1988 album Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid, also released on Earache Records. Category:Studio albums